BPL conundrum takes new turn
BCB had earlier cleared that this year’s BPL will be a special edition as it is renamed as Bangabandhu Premier League T20 to show honour to the Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman’s 100th birth anniversary.
Just three days after confirming that the Bangabandhu Bangladesh Premier League (BPL) T20 will take field on December 6 by an influential director of Bangladesh Cricket Board (BCB), Sheikh Sohel, the other BCB director on Thursday said that the BPL might be delayed by 10 days if any 'crisis' arrives along the way. He, however, hinted nothing about that crisis.
For now, the new season of BPL is slated to be played from December 6. But BCB is yet to finalize the participating teams, sponsors, venues and the many other things which are the integral parts of a premium T20 event.
BCB had earlier cleared that this year's BPL will be a special edition as it is renamed as Bangabandhu Premier League T20 to show honour to the Father of the Nation Sheikh Mujibur Rahman's 100th birth anniversary.
The board had also manifested that there will be no franchises this time around in BPL. Instead of managing the teams by franchisees, the board will take care of these by themselves.
"We had a good meeting today. We have discussed with some parties who are interested to be the team sponsors in BPL. We are marching slowly to host a memorable edition of BPL. We had earlier said that BPL will be played from December 6. But it might be delayed by a week or 10 days if any crisis arrives along the way," Sheikh Sohel, the Chairman of BPL Governing Council, told the media on Thursday at Sher-e-Bangla National Cricket Stadium.
"We have an international assignment early next year against Pakistan. So we have to host BPL considering the schedule of that series. We will manage the time that we need to host BPL properly. We will have another meeting right after confirming the team sponsors," added BCB director Mahbub Anam, who has no specific role in BPL Governing Council.
The BPL Governing Council met four parties on Thursday, who are interested to be the team sponsors in BPL. Mahbub said: "They had some questions regarding the role of a team sponsor in the event. We have made it clear to them. At the same time, we tried to know their background. We will come to a decision in the next board meeting about who will be rewarded the sponsorship."
He also said that the team sponsors will not be involved directly in team operation, but if they want they can come up with any suggestions. According to Mahbub, 390 international players have shown their interest to take part in the seventh edition of BPL.
"The team sponsors have to pay BCB to get the sponsorship and BCB will bear all the expenses of the participating teams, just like the Big Bash in Australia," Mahbub further told the media.
"We will appoint international coaches for all of the teams so that this BPL can help Bangladesh cricket to step up. The local coaches will also get the opportunity to be in the coaching staffs," Mahbub added.
Earlier, an opening ceremony was scheduled to be staged on December 3. But as per the latest development, this date might be changed to a new one, although BCB is yet to announce a new date.
"Since this BPL will be dedicated to Bangabandhu, we must host an opening ceremony and we will try to make it as magnificent as possible," Sheikh Sohel added.